Have HeartI may be one of a handful of people who has listened to "Songs To Scream At The Sun" and isn't totally floored. Shit, I will go as far as to say that I think "The Things We Carry" is a better record from top to bottom. I made sure to not make a haste decision about this release, I wanted to take everything in and let it sink in fully before posting a premature review. And not that I am surprised that so many people have hailed this as the best hardcore release of 2008, for me however, this doesn't break my top five, and by the end of the year I doubt it'll even crack my top 10.
While there are still many similarities between "The Things We Carry" and this album, such as keeping the length of songs varied, good lyrics, and an outstanding job by vocalist Pat Flynn there are some considerable differences. Perhaps the biggest difference is the approach that the band has taken to its song writing. It doesn't have the huge anthems and the songs are considerably more mid-paced. Yes, they are still a melodic hardcore band, just a different sort of melodic hardcore band with subtle hints at a post-hardcore sound. Another noticeable difference is the tone of the band on the recording. It becomes apparent with the opening song "The Same Son" that Kurt Ballou at God City Studios has a much different take on the band than Jim Siegal did at The Outpost. While I enjoy the tone of this album, I thought Siegal did a better job.
"Bostons" is definitely the best of the ten songs. To me this song is the total culmination of everything this band has done up until this point. It has everything from well placed gang shouts, a sweet up tempo verse, and some of the best lyrics that Flynn has written in my opinion. The dueling vocals of JD from Shipwreck AD and Flynn is just the frosting on the cake.
Another song that I really enjoyed was "On That Bird In The Cage". I'm actually still surprised that I liked the track so much because usually when a hardcore band writes a relationship/love song, it usually ends up being bad. But Flynn's poetic lyrics that were heavily inspired by Maya Angelou's poem "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" struck a chord with me, as I'm sure it did for many.
Like the layout of their previous album, this one has a thick booklet with loads of imagery. Each of the ten songs has two pages that display the lyrics on 1/3 of the space while the other 2/3 are used for the corresponding image. All of the images are photographs with the exception of "On That Bird In The Cage"and "The Same Sun" which used a photoshopped silhouette and a drawing respectively. The photo collage in the middle of the booklet was a nice addition to the layout though I'm not sure why they didn't fill out the right edge like they did the left.
Rating: 3.9/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "Bostons," "On That Bird In The Cage" & "The Same Sun"
Synopsis: While this is certainly a quality album, it's just not quite as good as "The Things We Carry". But hey I'm the minority that thinks that. There are brief moments of brilliance, especially within the lyrics but this album just didn't hit me as hard as their previous effort. I do admire the fact that these guys wanted to progress and didn't release "The Things We Carry" Part Two. Definitely pick this up.
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